BBQ PR

Back in August, Cindy Sheehan was all the rage. Her in-your-face attitude and tragic story of loss was gobbled up and digested by the media and regurgitated to news junkies. She hollered and carried on during a disgustingly long "slow news" season, and we all loved to watch Sheehan push the president's buttons. Alas, while she never actually sat down with Bush to tear him a new one, she did get her very loud message out. \nBut Mama always said try, try again, and Rockey Vaccarella always listens to his Mama.\nThe man hauled a replica FEMA trailer all the way to Washington, D.C., from the front yard of his dilapidated home in St. Bernard's Parish with a caravan of supporters following him on a cross-country tour. His plan was to roll into the capital and deep-fry the president in affection. Vaccarella invited the president (and I can only assume the first lady, as a Southern gent is apt to do) to a good, old-fashioned cookout. The president politely declined Vaccerella's dinner engagement, but the White House public relations machine set up a breakfast meeting and photo op. \nWhy the change of policy? Sure, Vaccarella's call for "another term in Washington" is easier for the White House to stomach than "you killed my son," but I don't think that's the whole story. \nNo one really expected Sheehan to get a face-to-face. People just enjoyed watching her make the president squirm. What killed the president's image was appearing not to reach out to Sheehan and seriously address her concerns -- in short, not being a people's president.\nWhat's so curious is that even Sheehan's fame barely lasted until the Democratic convention. And as a campaigning tool, it really seemed that candidates shied away from Sheehan's crowd because of how polarizing it can be. As for Vaccarella, he's a ham. He loves to be in the spotlight and would do anything to be made fun of on Conan O'Brien, but he doesn't have the sticking power to last until this column runs. \nSo why go after something so small? In actuality, the president didn't have much choice. Bush obviously couldn't decline dinner outright; it would be a slap in the face of everyone affected by Katrina. On the other hand, by extending an invitation to the Oval Office, the president opened himself up to murmuring disapproval. \nThe reality is that the value of a hard-line Bush supporter touting the hard work of his favorite person is negligible at best. But if Bush doesn't live up to his "common man" image by slumming with the working class, he runs the risk of reopening partisan wounds.\nMore than anything, I think that meeting Vaccarella suggests a serious lack of friends in the Bush camp. These days, when campaigning congressmen avoid Bush endorsements like the plague, the president absolutely cannot afford to refuse the loving praise of man who by all reasonable estimates could have drowned on the roof of his flooded house.